“(Warren Buffet’s) game can best be described as the pursuit of unchanging goals through ever-changing means.”
– From a story by Jason Zweig in the May 2 – 3, 2015 “Wall Street Journal”
Let’s face it. Everyone would like to be Warren Buffet. Maybe not in our 80’s, maybe not with the eyebrows, but to be the market maker, the “Oracle of Omaha,” the wealthiest person alive (or perennially one of them) simply would not suck.
In the first of our series on “The Evolution of Domination,” this quote about Buffet — “unchanging goals through ever-changing means” — is particularly appropriate.
The “what” should not vary widely, and one could argue that it should not change at all; be it value, market leadership, customer experience, profitability, etc.
The “hows,” though, must evolve. In some cases they must go quickly beyond evolution and change radically. Research Disney’s My-Magic+ project. Consider Buffalo Wild Wings transformation of the way chicken wings are priced in the market. There are dozens of other examples in recent business history. If the impact of the “hows” doesn’t register yet, consider that Milwaukee and Chicago were virtually the same size until the road and rail replaced the lakes and rivers as the how in transporting goods.
As usual, “Why?” becomes the driving question. “Why will this get us to / keep us on our “what.” “Why should we do this now?” “Why isn’t anyone else doing this (or are they, and, if so, why don’t we know?)?
Unchanging whats. Ever-changing hows. All based in knowing, “Why?”
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